Gulf Coast Community Church - Sunday Sermons

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

See, I will create new heavens and a new earth.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:

Isaiah gives us an amazing promise and Paul makes an astonishing claim. The amazing promise: a new heaven and a new earth… a new creation. Everything new! A world in which God is no longer mad at us, but rather rejoices over us and take delight in us. It is filled with joy, life, and peace! A world in which there is no more weeping, no more crying; no more childhood death and disease; no more “premature death” (65:19-20). A world in which enemies become friends!

Most people would likely say, “I want that world!” Who doesn’t? But then an astonishing claim: If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come! Creation is another word for “everything”. There is God and there is creation — everything that isn’t God!

So to say that if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come… is to say, “Everything has been completely transformed!” Or… “the old has gone and the new is here!” How can Paul make such an astonishing claim? Has he not been to my church? How did it happen?

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2019/04/20190421.pdf

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

A problem we have in prayer, according to Paul, is that we don’t know how to pray as we ought (Rom. 8:26). It seems, therefore, that Jesus’ teaching on prayer ought to garner some serious attention. But in a day of fast answers and easy fixes, it has given way to acronyms and worse yet, entire constructs of prayer based on an obscure text in the Old Testament.

Despite how easy it is to memorize the Lord’s prayer (a five-year-old is certainly capable), my personal experience is that one cannot truly master it in a lifetime. It will continue to transform the one who prays the longer they use it.

According to Jesus, one thing that is NOT a problem in prayer is God’s knowledge of what we need. In other words, the purpose of prayer is not to inform God of our needs. He already knows them. So what is the purpose of praying as Jesus’ taught? It is so that we might know what we need.

Disciples pray this prayer because they come to prayer as learners or students. In praying as Jesus taught, a disciple’s will is conformed more and more into God’s will. In order for that process to take place as it must, there are some fundamentals about this prayer that we need to understand.

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2019/04/20190414.pdf

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

Many books, articles, and blog posts have been written to inform people of the addictive nature and destructive impact of seeking the approval of others as well as some coaching on how to stop doing it. Most of them offer a cure that boils down to some variation on being more approving of yourself. In one such article, under the heading, “How to Let Go of the Need for Approval,” it offers: “1) Build a sense of self-acceptance; 2) Give yourself validation…”

Jesus was keenly aware of humanity’s tendency to seek praise from people – from one another – but the solutions He offers are radically different. Jesus instructs us to seek approval and validation, not from others (or ourselves) but from our Heavenly Father. Jesus focus here is not just on what we do but also why we do it.

In order to have a righteousness that surpasses that of the Pharisees (5:20), disciples will not cease to engage in doing just deeds which the Pharisees did, such as compassionate giving, prayer, and fasting, they will do the with entirely different motivations.

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2019/04/20190407.pdf

Speaker: Steven Brunson

We all have loved ones, family members and friends that we are praying for. We are praying that they would see the glory that is in Christ and would begin treasuring Him. Or maybe it appears that their affections for Christ have cooled off…we might even wonder if they have stopped following Christ. And so we pray, knowing that it is the Spirit of God who changes affections.

In the passage of scripture that we look at this Sunday, the author of Hebrews is writing to a congregation where some were falling away or in grave danger of doing so. These warning passages and in particular the red flag warning passage in Hebrews 6:4-6, is not the yellow stationary caution flag of Daytona where there is danger, but this is a red flag warning to the congregation because people’s lives, eternal lives are at stake.

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2019/03/20190331.pdf

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried.” —G.K. Chesterton

The Sermon on the Mount gets to the heart of what has been found difficult and left, largely, untried. David Augsburger asks four crucial questions that help us identify if we are truly disciples of Jesus. The first two require little of us.

· Do you believe the story of Jesus?

The next two get to the heart of what it means to truly be a disciple:

· Do you believe Jesus?

The teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount presses hard on these last two questions. It is radical — to read it any other way is not to read it at all. We cannot get out from under its demands by asserting that it either is meant for another age (past or future) (per Matt. 7:26-27).

R. Paul Stevens: “The ethics of Jesus demand a complete transformation. While perfection is never complete in this life, we must at least start being perfect because we are the children of God (5:48).”

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2019/03/20190324.pdf

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48)

Surely Jesus didn’t mean that, right? If you thought having a righteousness that surpasses the Pharisees in order to enter the Kingdom of heaven is demanding (Matt. 5:20), this takes the cake. This is a higher standard than even that!

What does that surpassing righteousness or “perfection” look like? Jesus didn’t leave it vague but gave six very specific examples between Matthew 5:20 and 48. These examples contrast a wrong understanding of the Law with the perfect understanding of the Law—the original intent! This Sunday we will explore the first three: relationships, human sexuality, and the mistreatment of women.

First, we will explore Jesus understanding of how “Do not kill” applies as God intended. Then we will explore what God’s law concerning sexuality (“Do not commit adultery”) intended to accomplish. Thirdly, we will talk about how the Pharisees, and sadly many in the church today, sadly misapply statements about divorce harmfully toward the very people for whom God intended His laws to bring mercy.

Join us in worship as we explore Matthew 5:21-48, focusing in on 5:21-32.

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2019/03/20190317.pdf

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 5:20)

As a teenager, I often heard preachers say that the Bible is so easy to understand we’d have to have help to misunderstand it. My 57 years of experience assures me that we actually don’t need help to misunderstand the Bible. Nonetheless, at times, I certainly think we’ve had plenty of help misunderstanding it. This text serves as an example.

Matthew 5:20 is difficult for us because we don’t want it to say what it apparently says, so we tend to focus on what it must be saying. It goes something like this: Jesus couldn’t possibly mean that for us to go to heaven we have to be better at living in the law than the Pharisees (true enough), therefore, he must be talking about Jesus’ righteousness which is perfect, and imputed to us (given as a gift through faith in Jesus), and not about how we actually live.

Trying to make this about imputed, or free gift righteousness, is, at best, misguided. No one could come to that conclusion by reading Matthew from beginning to end multiple times. F.D. Bruner, commenting on this tendency says, “I find the intention of this argument praiseworthy—the intention of preserving the gospel of free grace and faith. But the exegesis is wanting.” In other words: Good intentions; lousy reading!

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2019/03/20190310.pdf

Speaker: Peter Stonecipher

A recent ad campaign by a wireless provider wants to challenge the savvy consumer that “Just okay is not okay” when it comes to picking a wireless plan! The author of the book of Hebrews has a much more serious concern in mind when he challenges us that there comes a time When Good isn’t Good Enough in Hebrews 4:14-5:10. A good high priest isn’t good enough on the day when we will stand before God’s throne of judgment, only Jesus the Superior High Priest will do. Join us as we explore why Jesus is the Superior High Priest and as we are challenged with some ways we are prone to lose our grip on him!

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2019/03/20190303.pdf